UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PUBLICATIONS 



IN 



ZOOLOGY 



Vol. 6, No. 3, pp. 33-64, Pis. 1-6 July 15, 1909 



CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE LABORATORY 



OF THE 



MARINE BIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION OF SAN DIEGO 



XXV. 



THE OPHIURANS OF THE SAN DIEGO 

 REGION 



BY 



J. F. McCLENDON. 



My interest in Ophiurans lies chiefly in the experimental side, 

 and the present work was begun in June, 1907, with the hope 

 that a taxonomic and biological study of the San Diego species 

 might greatly facilitate work in which it was required to know 

 breeding seasons and habitats of the different species. Unfortu- 

 nately I left San Diego September 1, 1907, before much data on 

 breeding seasons had been collected. I believe that the height 

 of the breeding season for the majority of species is in the spring, 

 although individuals full of eggs that were apparently not ripe 

 were found during the summer. Owing to the confused state 

 in which the taxonomy of the Ophiurans has been left, I found it 

 impossible to complete the work without much aid from Dr. H. L. 

 Clark, for which my sincere thanks are due him. I am also 

 indebted to Miss Rathburn and Dr. Austin Clark of the National 

 Museum ; to the museum itself for the loan of specimens, and to 

 the John Crerar Library and the Universities of Michigan and 

 California for literature. 



Although most of the species react negatively to light and 

 hide under rocks and in sea-weed, sponges, etc., some of them 



